Women play a critical role in the cookstove value chain because of their central responsibility for managing household energy. As primary users of household energy products such as cleaner cookstoves, women are well-positioned to catalyze the market as micro-entrepreneurs and sales agents through marketing, distribution and delivery of clean energy technologies and after-sales services. However, they need proper support to become successful entrepreneurs.
Join this webinar to hear about the innovative support USAID and Winrock are providing to cookstove entrepreneurs!
Through the USAID-funded Developing a Sustainable Cookstove Sector (DSCS) project, Winrock International, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the Visionaria Network, is rolling out Empowered Entrepreneur Training Programs (EETPs), using the Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook curriculum, developed by JHU and Visionaria Network with support from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
This unique curriculum builds key business, empowerment and leadership skills. It focuses on agency-based empowerment, which enhances an individual’s cognitive capacity to create and focus on her goals, and prepares her to effectively take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
In this webinar, Winrock, JHU and the Visionaria Network will explain the multi-phased EETPs, which include a Training Certification Program, training roll-out for entrepreneur networks, and impact monitoring. They will elaborate on results to date, which have included increased sales, improved sales strategies, greater retention, and higher levels of promotion. DSCS has certified 47 trainers in 8 countries, who have trained over 500 entrepreneurs—come hear more about it!
For more information on this webinar, please contact:ederby@winrock.org.
| About the speakers: |
| Anita Shankar |
| Dr. Anita Shankar is a medical anthropologist and public health researcher with more than 25 years of research and field experience in women’s empowerment and maternal and child health. She directs numerous behavioral research studies in many countries and has spearheaded women’s empowerment interventions designed to foster personal agency. Her research has shown significant impacts of the agency-based empowerment approach on women’s well-being, health and entrepreneurial capacity. She is a lead author of the Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. |
| Genevieve Smith |
| Genevieve Smith directs program strategy at Visionaria Network and is a specialist in gender and markets, with a focus on women’s empowerment in clean energy value chains and women’s economic empowerment more broadly. Visionaria Network is an organization enabling girls to be social innovators in their own lives and communities, through empowerment training programs and sustainable development projects. Genevieve’s past and current clients include the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Winrock International/USAID, Solar Sister, UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (UN Women), Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, and more. She is a lead author of the Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook. |
| Elisa Derby |
| Elisa Derby manages Winrock’s household energy and clean cooking portfolio, with projects and partnerships that reduce fuel use and exposure to household air pollution. Her work incorporates field-based capacity building, formative research, network building, knowledge dissemination, grants management and direct-implementation activities. Along with Katie Gross, she is currently managing Winrock’s USAID-funded Developing a Sustainable Cookstove Sector Project, which supports women entrepreneurs through the Empowered Entrepreneur Training Program. |
| Register today for the February 1st webinar
Date and Time: February 1, 2017 – 15:00 – 16:30 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 10am-11:30am Eastern Standard Time (EST) Webinar participation is free. For the web portion, a high-speed internet connection is required. Please note that the webinar technology allows attendees to listen to audio through their computer or by phone. Additional log-in information will be provided upon registration. |
